Couthins from Texas

Being the brave mom that I am, I packed up the two kids for a three hour flight to Virginia over the Labor Day weekend. We left Dad behind in Houston to do X's and O's. The trip was long awaited - it had been a year since I visited, two years for Janai, and the first visit for Baby Jay. I figured I should take the little guy and introduce him to the family before he was walking, talking, and perfectly capable of introducing himself.

Janai was most interested in re-meeting her "couthins" (ahem, that's cousins with a lisp... and yes, another Janaism). For every person we saw (and there were lots of them), the inquisitive child had to ask "Mom, is that my couthin?" This is the price you pay when you raise your kids 1000 miles away from both families.

Janai took a quick liking to my first cousin's daughter, Jasmine. Would that make Jasmine and Janai couthins? They spent the whole weekend together. To my surprise, Janai even spent one night at Jasmine's house for a couthin sleepover. I'm not sure how much sleeping she did though. When Robin (Jasmine's mom) went for a 2am bathroom break, she found Janai laying there with both eyes cocked wide open. What can I say... the child doesn't get out much.


Jay found a couthin his own size - my nephew, Micah, the ~1-year old son of my brother, Rob. While they are 2.5 months apart, they are roughly the same height/weight. They didn't do much in the way of playing together. Instead they fought over pacifiers, plaits, and the telephone toy. Micah kept trying to jack Jay for his pacifier (Man, why are you sucking so hard...must be good... gimme some). And Jay seemed to be in awe of Micah's plaits (Hey Cuz', what's up with those things in your hair? My pops would never let my moms do my hair like that!). My crazy uncle (we all have one in the family) suggested with all seriousness to me and my brother that "y'all need to switch kids". Jay does favor my brother quite a bit, and Micah has more of Janai's skin complexion. But uncle, there will be no kid swapping!


On Saturday, we visited the Children's Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth. Jay had a blast - does his outfit look familiar?
We also went to Woodstock Park in Virginia Beach. This was enough to wear the kids out and mom too. We even got locked in the park! Can you believe it? There we are swinging, sliding, having loads of fun... only to find a nice nasty on the car that says "The park is now closed. Your vehicle has been locked in. You can retrieve it tomorrow at 7:30am". Are you kidding me? Luckily, after one phone call, a bit of Texas charm, and a 20 minute wait, a nice city official showed up to open the gates for us.


On Sunday, my mom hosted a Labor Day Cookout. Lots of food, fun, and folks. And to Janai's amazement there were couthins, couthins, and more couthins! Janai was the source of entertainment for all in attendance. Everyone was amazed at the way Janai talks - she is so articulate (proper) for a 4-year old and talks sssslllllooowwwwllllyyy according to the fast talking southeast Virginians. While I always knew that she had an interesting way of talking, it just recently hit me that she's Texan and has a drawl. Duh! So when she speaks, words are drawn out (God forbid she messes up and has to start over!)... and there is often an unnecessary use of extra syllables. For example, if you hear her say:

"Mahhhh-aaahhhhm", that's Texan for "Mom"
"Hayens", that's Texan for "Hands"
"Thayer", that's Texan for "There" or "Their"
"Chayer", that's Texan for "Chair"
"Fayel", that's Texan for "Fell"
"Bayef", that's Texan for "Bath".

Ok, so maybe she's not so articulate after all, but you get the point.

All in all, we had a good visit. It was great for the kids to see Nana Nell, Jerry, Poppa Bear, Pearl, Aunt Cat, Uncle Rob, Uncle Lil Rob, Aunt Monica, Uncle Jim Jim, Aunt Wanda, Uncle Sean, Aunt LaLa, Grandma Liz, Aunt Bettie, Aunt Cathy, Aunt Carolyn, Mr. Pleasants, Ms. Cassandra, Ms. Gertie, Ms. Bernadine, Ms. Janice, Ms. Brenda, Ciara, Couthins Mya, Micah, Delante, Jajuan, Jasmine, Eysence, Amir, Meco, Robin, Garfield, Pam... and the list goes on... and on... and on! Poor Jay was overstimulated!

After a late night of fun, we took the 5:30am flight (whose bright idea was that?) back to Houston on Monday morning and rested up before getting back into the regular grind. Who knows when the next visit will be... but we'll be looking forward to it!